Vern. :— Dhâi, Dhaula, Santha (H.) ; Dhaiphul (B.) ; Dhenti (Oudh) ; Dahiri (Nepal) ; Jatiko (Uriya) ; Dhâiti, Dhâmatî, Dhâoshi (Bomb.) ; Serinji (Tel.); Phulsatti (Mar.); Dhavadina (Guz.).
Habitat :— Common throughout India.
A large shrub, with many long, spreading branches. Stem more or less fluted, often with 1 or 2 concentric bands of cortical tissue inside the wood. Bark smooth, peeling off in thin scales ; young shoots and leaves with numerous black glands. Leaves opposite or sub-opposite, sometimes in whorls of 3, distichous, subsessile, 2-4 by 1. 3in., lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, usually acuminate, rounded or cordate at the base, entire, pale and generally grey pubescent beneath; lateral nerves 6-12 pairs, prominent beneath and joined by intramarginal veins. Flowers in short panicled, axillary cymes, rarely solitary. Calyx 4-6in. long, tubular, bright-red, curved oblique at the mouth ; teeth 6, short, with as many minute accessory lobes outside, Petals 6, white, acute, inserted in the sinuses of the Calyx-tube and scarcely exceeding the Calyx-teeth. Stamens 12, much exserted, decimate, inserted near the base of the Calyx ; filaments red ; anthers versatile. Ovary 2-celled, ovules many on axile placentas. (The stamens and styles are of varying lengths, the flowers thus becoming dimorphic or trimorphic.) Capsule ellipsoid, included in the persistent Calyx-tube; seeds many, brown, smooth. (Kanjilal).
Parts used : — The flowers and leaves.
Uses : — In Hindoo medicine the dried flowers are regarded as stimulant and astringent, and are much used in bowel complaints and hæmorrhages. Two drams of the dried flowers are given with curdled milk in dysentery, and with honey in menorrhagia. The powdered flowers are sprinkled over ulcers for diminishing their discharge and promoting granulation (U. C. Dutt).
" The dried flowers are astringent tonic in disorders of the mucous membrances, hæmorrhoids and in derangements of the liver, also considered a safe stimulant in pregnancy. The leaves are also officinal " (Mukerji).
